A directional antenna is typically aligned upon deployment to the location the antenna is to be used. The alignment process may include pointing the antenna in a general area of a target antenna (e.g., on a geostationary satellite) and partially fixing the antenna to an object (e.g., ground, a building or other structure, etc.) on which it is to be mounted. An alignment process may include an orthogonal search (e.g., azimuth and elevation, etc.) based on received signal strength of a signal from the target antenna. For example, a series of feedback steps using the received signal strength may be used to make adjustments to an azimuth alignment of the antenna. Next, a series of feedback steps using the signal strength may be used to make adjustments to the elevation alignment of the antenna. Once an acceptable alignment is achieved, an installer may fix the mounted position of the antenna
Common problems that occur using these alignment techniques include difficulty in providing feedback that effectively communicates differences in received signal strength between positioning steps and in determining the antenna position corresponding to the peak of the received signal strength once the antenna has been swept past the peak. In addition, even if successfully aligned during installation, changes in antenna position over time may result in degraded performance. Causes of changed in positioning direction may include, for example, a weakening of a support structure (e.g., a sagging building), a slipping of a wall mount, an impact to the antenna (e.g., a ball striking the antenna), or an obstruction between the antenna and the target (e.g., foliage growing or a new building). It may be difficult after an installation to determine whether performance degradation is due to mispointing of the antenna or to some other cause. To determine the cause of degraded performance, a technician may have to be sent out to the site location of the antenna, increasing costs of the system.
In addition, improving antenna alignment is becoming more important as bandwidth requirements increase. For example, misalignment may be compensated for by reducing a modulation and coding rate. However, to maintain a given data rate (e.g., bits-per-second (bps), etc.), this approach may increase system resource usage. As data rates increase, the effect on the system resources of misaligned antennas may be substantial.